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Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Lily

by John Xero

They say the pier is haunted.

Years ago, me and Lily used to fool around under there. We had this secret spot at the top end, where it was always damp, always dark. Right below the seafood guy. People would be above us, eating their cockles and muscles and shrimps, and Lily would be trembling beneath me and I’d be kissing her hard to keep her from crying out.

But in the damp and the dark, our lust woke something, something old and lascivious. I made it out, but Lily...

They say the pier's haunted; it’s Lily’s moans they hear.

Author bio: John Xero believes the internet will make ghosts of us all... fragments of half-forgotten lives echoing down the years like electronic spectres.Twitter | Blog

The thing that works for me in this great piece of fiction is the repetition of "They say the pier is haunted": it not only bookends the piece, but almost tolls like a bell on a fog-covered buoy out at sea.